


Excerpts from a Soldier's Diary

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Diary/Journal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 09:59:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1343359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses of Slade, the Titans, and others through Wintergreen's diary</p>
            </blockquote>





	Excerpts from a Soldier's Diary

**Author's Note:**

> These excerpts are based on similar excerpts found throughout the solo title for Deathstroke the Terminator.

_On Young Wilson_

He soaks it up, this young American, as if his mind and body are a sponge to collect the knowledge. Every muscle and nerve are becoming attuned to the warfare and its intricacies. I say again; this boy is the next military genius of our age. 

For now, he follows the suggestions I give. I have even had him come looking for advice for thorny problems involving the rigors of war, and how to cope with imbecilic officers. I treasure these questions, this chance to help shape him. 

One day, though, I shall have nothing to offer, but I tell you this: where he leads, I will go. 

\--excerpt from the journal of W.R. Wintergreen, Major, retired.

* * *

_After the Rescue_

...still not sure why he chose to do so. Part of me wishes to believe it was a practical test run of his abilities. The boy has a history of pragmatism, after all.

I truly did not understand how, though, he could throw it all away. He was the perfect soldier, and even idiots like Sampson would not hold him back for much longer, if he chose otherwise. I was an old man even then, in my third major war, and the pension would have seen to my children.

Still, the man has baffled me off and on over the years, much as I try to not let it show. The last time was the advent of his experimental treatment. Having seen the results, I still feel he was reckless in choosing to volunteer.

Only time will show us what price he will pay for these new gifts. And the only thing I may do is find a way to stay close to him, to try and find a proper way to repay not the saving of my life, but the cost he paid to do so.

\--excerpt from the journal of W.R. Wintergreen, Major, retired.

* * *

_Events surrounding Joseph's loss of voice_

I cannot begin to fathom what the man was thinking when he allowed events to conspire against him. Yes, he was likely arrogant enough to believe he could do what needed to be done, and save the boy. 

However, Slade feels for his family quite a bit more sentiment than I ever allowed myself in regards to the same. So why did he put his honor in his job ahead of his son's well-being? 

I hazard this guess, and hypothesize that Slade himself is unaware of it save on a gut level. He knew this would not be the only time they were threatened by his job. By performing as he did, even if the boy had come through unharmed, he insured that he forced Adeline's hand. She would have to become the woman he married all over again, if only for the protection of her children.

The loss of his eye proves he succeeded.

\--excerpt from the journal of W. R. Wintergreen, Major, retired

* * *

_Regarding the H.I.V.E. Contract_

The true core of any good military is that of true teamwork. I have known it for all the days that I have also known my temperament ran to solitary action. I saw this same temperament in Slade Wilson, almost from the day I met him.

Yet he understood teamwork too. He could plan a mission utilizing the men under his command with the best of them. And he was devastating at reading such teams and finding their weaknesses.

This, more than anything, allowed him to plot the revenge he sought against both the Titans and the H.I.V.E. so accurately.

I say again, it was neither accident that Adeline learned his supposed plans, nor that the sole full human of the team was allowed to remain loose.

Slade knew the heart of that team lay in young Grayson, and the key to his success was in that man's freedom.

\--From the journal of W.R. Wintergreen, Major, Retired

* * *

_Teen Titans_

I've watched as he came into more an more contact with the children that they call the Teen Titans over the years, and it has never ceased to amaze me just how much Slade can pull his patience to the forefront for them. From that first insane gambit to put Grant's spirit to rest, to fighting alongside them to defeat the creatures responsible for destroying our African home, he has used more patience than many would be willing to credit him with.

Personally, I find it as one of the more promising things about his association with them. If you asked me just why he is able to do so, what it is about them that pulls at his spirit, I would tell you this: Despite where his code and theirs separates, he will always admire their dedication to what they have chosen to do.

\--from the journal of W. R. Wintergreen, Major, Retired

* * *

_Titans' Strength/Flaw_

I will never fail to marvel at the way the Titans seem more a family grouping at times than an effective combat unit of any stripe. The JSA were always observed to keep a professional veneer on their public workings. The JLA, on the other hand, has always struck me as a task force unit... matching key abilities to the task at hand. The Titans, however, throw themselves into the breach with this unspoken knowledge that their strength lies in the bonds of friendship and chosen companionship they share.

When this knowledge is removed from them, and they are effectively bereft of the support they are accustomed to, they are far easier to manipulate, and even defeat. It strikes me as odd, then, that they cannot see this weakness for what it is, and that they continue to succumb to it.

\--excerpt from the journal of W.R. Wintergreen, Major, retired

* * *

_Observations on the Apprentice Syndrome_

I have watched the interactions of Slade with the young man who now calls himself Nightwing for some time now. Apparently Slade sees the same thing in the young man that I once saw in Slade himself. There is a raw potential begging to be shaped, honed into a blade of perfection. Despite himself, Slade is drawn to do just that. He pits himself against the Titans en masse, or against Nightwing alone, when there were ways around that provision, strictly to bait the vigilante into learning a new lesson.

If Slade were ever able to leave the life he's chosen, I have no doubt he would find great pleasure in teaching Nightwing one on one. Perhaps the same level of gratification, even, that I found in giving Slade the grounding in soldiering that I did.

\--excerpt from the journal of W.R. Wintergreen, Major, retired.

* * *

How to explain Rose? The child is dear to my heart, and not just for the fact she is my old friend's daughter. No, more to it, she is a survivor. From the attack on Lili's girls, to being kidnapped, to losing her mother, she's had a long, hard walk in adversity. I understand Slade's thinking in shoving her away; I do not, however, think it was the wisest decision. I'd far rather still have gone with my idea of allowing me to foster her than giving her over to the Titans.

This is why, though she's doing well as Lian Harper's baby sitter, I will keep a close eye on events. If anything more were to happen to the child, I don't think my heart could handle it.

\--excerpt from the journal of W.R. Wintergreen, Major, retired.

* * *

_Rebuilding from the Ravager_

...rebuilding from what DeFarge had done was difficult. We had lost our financier, a supplemental intelligence resource, our weaponeer... so much lost.

Slade had no interest in being troubled by the day to day of keeping him in business; while he ran for Sarge Steel, I settled into the rebuilding. It proved to be that I had very little work to do. Squirrel, rest his soul, had left behind a sister that was bound and determined to have vengeance for her brother's loss. While she was no weapons master, she was a genius with the newer computers. Jessica... Jesse, as she informed me, took over much of what Frannie had provided and the management of money. She also introduced me to her cousin, who still lived in Kiev, and had the full accent of the old world. Gregor was a genius in armor and weapons both.

Michael from the Pac NorthWest was the ideal person to be the step between informants and myself or Slade. Whereas Scoops was more senior, Scoops had the problem of being known as Slade's man, a mistake Mikey had avoided. Others would be... 

\--excerpt from the journal of W. R. Wintergreen, Major, retired

* * *

_Excerpt on France Trip_

...bloody, insane idiot has the nerve to pull me into his reckless, dangerous stunts without so much as a by-your-leave. There we were, roaring around France outside of Marseilles, dodging attempts to kill us by the same people who had dogged every step of our way. We come to a hairpin turn, and the man tells me we're going over the cliff, as if he can fly.

I need my head examined for listening to him at times, yet I had little choice but to trust in him. His arm caught mine, and the next thing I know, our motorbikes are falling to the sea, and we are dangling from a helicopter by his strong arm. By the grace of the angels, I am still wondering at how I have survived this long with...

\--excerpt from the journal of W. R. Wintergreen, Major, retired

* * *

_Pleasing Strategy_

It never seemed to matter where in the world Slade insisted on going; I could always find something warm, plump, and cuddly to distract me while Slade was being his typical pragmatic self.

He would ignore my gallivanting with the ladies, fail to tell me when he was actually ready to move, and leave me catching up after making my sweet sorrows known to the lady in question. Of course, this was all part of my tried and true strategy. 

By letting Slade go on ahead, I inevitably found the problem he had missed... and a solid thock of a pistol butt was often enough to render the problem into an asset who would sell his mother for a tuppence, once he came to in our custody.

\--excerpt from the journal of W. R. Wintergreen, Major, retired


End file.
